Payload bay atmospheric vent airflow testing at the Vibration and Acoustic Test Facility

Several concerns related to venting the Space Shuttle Orbiter payload bay during launch led to laboratory experiments with a flight-type vent box installed in the wall of a subsonic wind tunnel. This report describes the test setups and procedures used to acquire data for characterization of airflow through the vent box and acoustic tones radiated from the vent-box cavity. A flexible boundary-layer spoiler which reduced the vent-tone amplitude is described

Trends in office internal gains and the impact on space heating and cooling demands

Internal gains from occupants, equipment and lighting contribute a significant proportion of the heat gains in an office space. Looking at trends in Generation-Y, it appears there are two diverging paths for future ICT demand: one where energy demand is carefully regulated and the other where productivity enhancers such as multiple monitors and media walls causes an explosion of energy demand within the space. These internal gains scenarios were simulated on a variety of different building archetypes to test their influence on the space heating and cooling demand. It was demonstrated that in offices with a high quality facade, internal gains are the dominant factor. As a case study, it was shown that natural ventilation is only possible when the ICT demand is carefully regulated

Analysis of Gray Fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) Fur Harvests in Arkansas

An investigation was conducted on gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) fur harvest in Arkansas. Data were gathered from a mail survey of Arkansas trappers and from Arkansas Game and Fish Commission fur harvest records from 1939 to 1983. Analyses of these data demonstrated: 1) gray fox were abundant statewide with lower levels in the Delta region; 2) there was a need for fox trappers to keep better records on their trapping efforts, success and composition of catch, including sex and age data; 3) market price: harvest correlation was high (r = 0.956, p \u3c .001); 4) over the past 10 years, the Ozark Mountain region provided the greatest contribution to annual fox harvests, the Ouachita Mountain and Gulf Coastal Plain regions were similar to each other, but lower than the Ozarks, and the Delta region contributed the least, but with a generally stable harvest

Michael Smith and the daleks: reason, morality, and contingency

Smith has defended the rationalist's conceptual claim that moral requirements are categorical requirements of reason, arguing that no status short of this would make sense of our taking these requirements as seriously as we do. Against this I argue that Smith has failed to show either that our moral commitments would be undermined by possessing only an internal, contextual justification or that they need presuppose any expectation that rational agents must converge on their acceptance. His claim that this rationalistic understanding of metaethics is required for the intelligibility of moral disagreement is also found to be inadequately supported. It is further proposed that the rationalist's substantive claims - that there are such categorical requirements of reason and that our actual moral commitments are a case in point - are liable to disappointment; and that the conceptual claim is fatally undermined by reflection on how we might best respond to such disappointment

Battle Bot AI – Patriot Bot

An entry in the the \u27Battle Block AI\u27 competition hosted by \u27The AI Games\u27

Work in Progress: RFID Sports Timing System

Timing plays a critical role in most sporting events. RFID-based timing solutions offer a high level of automation. Current timing solutions are high in cost and frequently do not offer live results to spectators. Existing RFID hardware is evaluated for suitability in a new timing solution. An architecture for an open source timing solution is then evaluated. The new solution offers a novel combination of features making ownership feasible for smaller sporting events

Beyond Power over Ethernet : the development of Digital Energy Networks for buildings

Alternating current power distribution using analogue control and safety devices has been the dominant process of power distribution within our buildings since the electricity industry began in the late 19th century. However, with advances in digital technology, the seeds of change have been growing over the last decade. Now, with the simultaneous dramatic fall in power requirements of digital devices and corresponding rise in capability of Power over Ethernet, an entire desktop environment can be powered by a single direct current (dc) Ethernet cable. Going beyond this, it will soon be possible to power entire office buildings using dc networks. This means the logic of “one-size fits all” from the existing ac system is no longer relevant and instead there is an opportunity to redesign the power topology to be appropriate for different applications, devices and end-users throughout the building. This paper proposes a 3-tier classification system for the topology of direct current microgrids in commercial buildings – called a Digital Energy Network or DEN. The first tier is power distribution at a full building level (otherwise known as the microgrid); the second tier is power distribution at a room level (the nanogrid); and the third tier is power distribution at a desktop or appliance level (the picogrid). An important aspect of this classification system is how the design focus changes for each grid. For example; a key driver of the picogrid is the usability of the network – high data rates, and low power requirements; however, in the microgrid, the main driver is high power and efficiency at low cost